5 of the best wearable techs for summer 2014

1. Apple’s weightlifting band

There have been rumours mounting that Apple is preparing to bring its own fitness band to the market, designed to wrap around the cold hard steel of a barbell.

The iPhone maker has been awarded a patent by the US patent and Trademark Office, which details a weightlifting tracker that would pair with a watch-like device to provide live progress-tracking for users.

The patent outlines how a transmitter could attach itself to a weightlifting bar to count repetitions in real-time during a workout.

The device would also include a screen for displaying the results, ensuring that repetitions are carried out in a smooth and controlled manner.

2 Smart dress

Researchers from the New York University have created a smart dress that claims to become more transparent the more a wearer is active online.

The x.pose dress is made from a 3D mesh that uses location data from the wearer’s phone. The mesh is then controlled by a small computer at the back of the dress where it wirelessly monitors the user’s online activity on Twitter, Instram and other media sites on your smartphone.

The dress gradually becomes more see-through depending on the volume of posts and other activity by its wearer.

"By participating in this hyper-connected society while having little to no control of my digital data production, how much of myself do I unknowingly reveal? To what degree does the aggregated metadata collected from me paint an accurate portrait of who I am as a person? What aspects of my individuality are reflected in this portrait? " the researchers explained.